Happy New Year 2043!

surfing.stef

Happy new year! It?s January 2043 in Darkwind, and a new set of leagues are just starting. This is a good time to get in on the game if you have hopes of league glory...



The developers have been very busy in the past 12 weeks, and below there is a list highlighting the key new features that you might be interested in.



But first, a quick mention of the league honours from 2042. Advanced Research Labs gained an unprecedented clean sweep of the three major leagues - Somerset`s Race, Deathrace and Arena Combat Leagues. Kudos to Alocalypse! Xander of Advanced Race Labs took two of the Evan Ladder victories (Race and Deathrace), while Fish Heads won the Combat Ladder. Fish Heads also took first place in the minor Summer League, while the two minor Autumn Leagues were won by the Toecutters (Elmsfield League) - and Advanced Race Labs (Gateway League). This season we?re adding a new Semi-Pro arena combat league which runs from February to July, 2043.





News and New Features Added in the Past 12 Weeks

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New Age Gamer magazine published a 4-page interview with me about Darkwind in last month?s issue (NewAgeGaming-Darkwind.pdf)



The Darkwind Gazette is a new bi-weekly player-written newspaper covering all sorts of in-game topics and news. Here?s the first two issues: November 2042 and December 2042



Lots of new types of vehicles have been added ? we?re now up to 47 - see chassis Types.



Numerous new weapons and addons such as nitro boosters and rocket boosters have been added ? we?re now up to 51. The new ballistic weapons such as mortars have added tactical variability to combats since they can fire over obstacles.



Improvements have been made to the driving physics, including slipstreaming/drafting and handbrakes.



Custom events have been added, so players can create their own race/deathrace/combat events and define their entry fees and prizes. ?Pink slip? challenges are also possible, allowing the winner to take the loser?s car.



A number of additional wilderness maps and a number of new racetracks in Elmsfield and Gateway have been added - this is Gateway?s Trench, for example:

NPC Contract Attacks and Bounty Hunters have been added, spicing up the PvP intrigue and increasing trader-versus-pirate tensions.



Specialist skills have been made available to high-skilled characters ? see specialisms.



Many environment objects (buildings, trees, etc.) are now destroyable ? this is a precursor to the addition of player-owned camps, which is a feature currently under development.



Integrated Browser ? currently in prototype, we?re streamlining the gameplay process by embedding a web-browser within the game client, so you don?t need to switch applications when you want to do some gang management or set travel orders, etc.





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Thanks for reading, hoping to see you on the track..

Sam and viKKing